August 9th, 2005

Just received Motley Crue's "Red, White & Crue" in the post. It's there new album and I'll admit the first ever Motley Crue album I've properly had (I think a friend recorded the one with Girls, Girls, Girls, etc, on for me in the 80's though). I've no idea what it'll sound like but the single from it ("If I Die Tomorrow") was really really surprisngly good. Probably means I'm in for a let down but we'll see...

I also received Saint Etienne's "Smash The System: Singles 1990-99" in the same delivery. I used to enjoy Saint Etienne 'back in the day' but haven't really listened to them for a few years now. Looking forward t exploring this one and rediscovering a load of songs my memory has faded out over the years :p

In other news - I have three days off!!! In a ROW!!! WOW!!! :D

Today is a mixture of a day of rest and work. I have a few things I really need to do but I also want to spend a little bit of time relaxing and having some 'Angus-time' as I've not really allowed myself any for a while. Angus-time will probably result in me either lying back and reading the new Harry Potter book or playing Championship Manager on the PC trying to get my various teams promoted :p

This evening sees Dom come over for a game whilst the TV is on in the background showing the Everton Champions League Qualifier.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Mr John Brown (ex-WOTC/RPGA) for lunch and chats and then the SKINNY PUPPY gig in the evening!!! Can't wait!

Thursday is more of a day of full-on work although I'm also hoping to arrange something with Mr Torley and Tam for a few hours. Then Friday is back to work :(....... although I will be B-Movie-ing in the evening which I am SO looking forward to. I might also be at Slimelight (boo hiss) on Saturday as it's Sarah's birthday and I said I'd go along for a few hours if she goes.

Well I am now a friend of 199 people. My latest friend is actualsean whom I work with. Now who should be 'Friend 200'?

Well, I'm kind of leaving that one up to you guys. Who do YOU
think should be on my friends list and why? Whose LJ should I be
reading and commenting on? Have a think and make some suggestions to me
and we'll see who 'Friend 200' turns out to be!

Whilst on the subject of my LJ's front page I thought I'd ressurect an old meme type affair that circulated quite a while back regarding 'Interests'.

I currently have 150 interests listed (it's no wonder I don't seem to have any spare time!). Ask me about any of them and I'll tell you either what it is or why I am interested in it, or when I became interested in it.

Cause I saw it in a friends LJ so it *MUST* be true.....--------------True story; A religion teacher assigned her class an essay on what makes a good Wiccan. One student wrote about sacrificing nightly, dancing skyclad, kidnapping babies, and donating money. The other student wrote about talking to the goddess and allowing people to enjoy their lives naked or not - and supporting parents choosing whether or not to sacrifice their own babies. The day the teacher was to hand the papers back, she called up the second student and told him she would sacrifice him. The student asked why would he be sacrificed, and why he got an F on his paper. The teacher told him that Wiccan is for enforced baby-sacrifice. The student looked at her for a minute, then said aloud, "I was a baby, once." The teacher kicked him out of class as if he had said "God is a bloke" or didn't love trees. A girl in the back of class who had no baby and was regularly naked got up and left too.

If you would leave the classroom, repost this. It doesn't matter if you're naked, clothed or a baby. It doesn't matter if you're Wiccan or not. Everyone is a human being and deserves happiness

The 'Wiccan True Story' pisstake was actually written by twicedead
in a reply on another friends LJ regarding the stupid Christian/Gay
spam. I thought it summed things up nicely and so reposted it. I've
started seeing it spread though and wanted to make sure Ben gets the
limelight for this one. Genius!

Played a handful of games this evening. One new one to me, one I hadn't
played since playtesting it at a Con 3 years ago and one variation of a
game played before.

HIVEWe finally gave Hive by Gen.4.2 a go. I've had the game for
years but never got round to playing it. The designer is local to us
and actually playtested the game at the local games club. I never
played it there though. The pieces are lovely. Thick wooden hexagons
with a picture of an insect on the top with either Blue or Silver
background to show who owns the piece. The game itself is a two-player
strategy game whose object is to try and surround the opponents Queen
Bee. Each insect piece has different movement traits but you can never
break the chain of the hive creating a section disconnected with the
rest of the playing pieces. It has no board so you can pretty much play
it anywhere and it's small enough that you could take it away on
holiday with you. We played several games at the beginning of the night
and went back for a few more before Dom headed home. It's pretty quick,
say 20 minutes tops. Certainly one I can now reccommend :p

FIGHTBALL
I first played Fightball at a games convention in a hotel by the NEC
back in 2002 I think. James Ernest, the designer, whipped my hind
before I took revenge on another con-goer (Paul Wade-Williams - now
working for Great White Games on their Savage Worlds line). It's a very
fast-paced 'sports' game where you are trying to lay your cards as
quick as possible to get your players into goal scoring opportunities
whilst trying to prevent your opponents players from scoring. The game
is made up of four quarters which are in turn made up of two rounds.
The first round is where each player tries to play all of their cards
and finishes when the first player runs out and 'Buzzes'. The
second round is tallying up any goals you scored and any
fouls that took place. Over the course of the four quarters you
tally up all your points and the person with the most wins. The first
game I thrashed Dom 50 - 9, on the second rematch Dom faired slightly
better but still ultimately lost 38 -16. Enjoyed it but not sure it'll
be a regular feature on the games table. There are three sets in the
series (each containing two teams). We played Aztec and The Dark.

DUNGEONEER: HAUNTED WOODS OF MALTHORIN
After our successful three-player Dungeoneer experience the other week
we decided to give one of the smaller 2-player expansions a go. These
can be added to the other sets to make larger games but for two players
they work well enough. We choose the Haunted Woods of Malthorin tonight
and donned our adventuring garb and headed into those dark woods. I was
a Centaur Ranger and Dom was a Druid. The game does play well with
two-players but I must say it's more fun with more as people get
screwed over more often :p Has got some very nice magic items in it
though and the Drow ended up kicking some serious Druid ass which was
nice to see! :p

I have also got a sample few packs of Hidden City's new CLOUT game.
This game has been causing a bit of a stir because it's from thePeter
Adkison's new company. For those who don't know who Peter is then
you probably also haven't heard of Magic: The Gathering or Wizards of
the Coast, which is game and company he first produced back in 1993. I
was dubious when I first heard about CLOUT as it's a collectible poker
chip combat game. Hmm.... sounded to me a bit like a glorified POG.
Anyway, I know daver2323
is doing some artwork on future sets and Peter certainly has enough
money to market and promote it intensely. I just don't know if it's
something that will do well in the Hobby market though. Mind you, when
I first saw the early Mage Knight figures I didn't think it'd catch on
- to be fair I still didn't think that until Heroclix was announced!
Anyway, I'll give CLOUT a go in the near future and report back then.